LabTV is Producing Role Models from Indiana University, Bloomington's Achievements in Medical Research

    STAMFORD, CT, June 18, 2014 /24-7PressRelease/ -- LabTV announced that Indiana University in Bloomington, IN has agreed to work with LabTV filmmakers to create human interest video profiles of young working medical researchers at labs on the university's campus. In order to inspire today's high school and college students to move into an increasingly important field with lagging interest. LabTV's founder, Jay Walker, has decided to spark their interest by introducing the exciting field of medical research.

Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), has repeatedly stated that the United States needs visible role models in medical research who can encourage more of our best and brightest young people - especially women and minorities - to join this crucial profession.

"Medical research is the greatest science adventure of our time, but almost nobody knows about it," said LabTV Executive Producer David Hoffman. "On LabTV our short videos are about people, not about science. The medical scientists we profile are passionate young men and women from every background, every nation and every ethnic group. They find medical research incredibly exciting and rewarding. They are eager to encourage today's students to enter the field."

With backing from the NIH, labs across the country are being encouraged to open their doors to LabTV so that both professional and student filmmakers can create the videos that will celebrate young scientists and excite today's students. By sending amateur and professional filmmakers to 40,000 NIH funded medical research labs across the United States, LabTV will create short video profiles of tens of thousands of young scientists.

"LabTV has the potential to be a good way of publicizing what the NIH does, and why it matters that research remains a priority in the US," said Faith Hawkins, Chief of Staff to Vice President for Research at Indiana University, Bloomington. "We are very proud of our filmmakers. We're glad that our students were eager to participate, and we're pleased with the results."

The university was also featured in the 2014 Tribeca Film Festivals Semi-Finalists by Virginia Warner who featured a video profile of Christina Moe. LabTV celebrated talented filmmakers exposing young medical researchers to the world in this award ceremony totaling over $16,000 in prizes for the many bright participants.

What drew the LabTV team to Indiana University, Bloomington is being one of the nation's top medical research institutions, receiving more than $250 million in research grants, including over $100 million from the National Institutes of Health. During a news briefing in May, President Barack Obama revealed a joint-grant of $30 million by the Department of Defense and the NCAA, funding a three-year long education alliance for concussion research led by the University of Indiana, Bloomington School of Medicine. The long-term research alliance will involve athletes from as many as 30 universities, and will seek to deepen researchers' understanding of concussion injuries.

"Our goal," said LabTV founder, Jay Walker, "is to help students find role models they can identify with - young scientists who are people just like themselves, and who share their dreams and passions."

Universities that wish to have their young scientists profiled on LabTV at no cost to the university or the lab may contact LabTV's Debbie Pranckitas at (415) 813-8100 or by email at [email protected].

David Hoffman is an Emmy award-winning filmmaker of more than 150 television documentaries and multi-part series for PBS, Turner, A&E and Discovery. Mr. Hoffman has produced more than 200 television programs, five feature-length documentaries, and hundreds of Youtube "movies" that together have over 10 million views.

Jay Walker, the founder of LabTV, is also the chairman of Patent Properties and curator of TEDMED, the health and medicine edition of the famous TED conference. A noted entrepreneur, Mr. Walker has founded three companies that serve more than 50 million customers. He is best known as the creator of Priceline, which brought a new level of value to the travel industry.

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LabTV, in cooperation with the National Institutes of Health, inspires STEM-oriented students, particularly women and minorities, to consider a career in medical research. LabTV does this by having filmmakers, primarily undergraduates, interview young medical scientists, and post their interviews on LabTV.com where viewing students can find and connect with successful young medical scientists just like them.

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